This new edition of Victory Starts Here is a short history of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) as it is completing four decades of organizational existence. Established in July 1973 to solve the cumbersome command and control issues of the old US Continental Army Command (CONARC), TRADOC's mission was to oversee Army schools, training, doctrine, and combat developments. Through time those missions have evolved, and TRADOC also has become responsible for preparing the Army for war and functioning as the Army's "architect of the future." General William E. DePuy, TRADOC's first commander, understood that the Army required sound training, coherent organization, modem weapon systems, and relevant doctrine. His successors built on that foundation and addressed the need for future planning. Readers will learn that TRADOC's story is generally one of success. Still, as this monograph is published in spring 2013, the full effects of about a dozen years of conflict in Southwest Asia as part of the Global War on Terrorism, the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure effort that largely concluded in 2011, and now the fiscal uncertainty caused by the budgetary process known colloquially as "sequestration" altogether are presenting TRADOC with a set of "postwar'' challenges that bear useful comparison to those the nation and the Army faced when the command was established in the wake of Vietnam. Where these trials will take TRADOC in the years to come cannot, of course, be determined with certainty right now. Assuming that the past is a reliable guide to the future (which is one of the compelling justifications for the study of history in the first place), then the Army is likely to continue to need an organization to train and educate Soldiers, to formulate and promulgate doctrine, to devise and determine weapons and organizations, and to puzzle out tomorrow's Army. TRADOC's future survival, therefore, seems to be imperative to a successful US Army. This latest version of Victory Starts Here provides an overview of 40 years of TRADOC's service to the Army and the nation.
About the Author: Benjamin King was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1944. He graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Liberal Arts (History) in 1965. From the time of his graduation until 1977, he was on Active Duty with the Army serving in Germany and Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star with "V," the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart. After his release from Active Duty, he served as a contract historian to the Casemate Museum from 1978 to 1979. In 1984 he was selected Chief of Simulations at the US Army Transportation School. During his tenure he designed the simulations TRASWAR III, Transportation Movement Control in the Theater of Operations, and TRANSWAR IV, Truck Company Operations in the AirLand Battle. In 1992, Mr. King became the Command Historian of the US Army Transportation Corps. From 1992 to 1994 he headed the team that wrote Spearhead of Logistics, A History of the US Army Transportation Corps, the second branch history completed in the Army. He also appeared in the Discovery Channel production of Machines that Won the War. In 2000, King accepted his current position as Research Historian in the TRADOC Military History and Heritage Office. Starting with his arrival, he completed six multiyear command histories to bring the headquarters up-to-date. His research on US Army doctrine and the history of TRADOC and its organization has been widely used, and parts of his monographs on soldiers and warriors were used in the Warrior Code. In addition, he designed 15 historical decision-training exercises (HDTE) that were used by the Army. Mr. King is also the co-author of Impact, the History of Germany's V-weapons, the definitive history of German surface-to-surface guided missiles published in 1998. He contributed to Coalition Air Warfare in the Korean War published by the US Air Force History and Museums Program and has articles published in Field Artillery Journal, Transportation Professional Bulletin, and Vietnam magazine. His book-length works of fiction include A Bullet for Stonewall, 1990; A Bullet for Lincoln, 1993; and The Loki Project, 2000. He lives in Isle of Wight, Virginia, with his wife, Loretta, and Trotter the Cat.